Coverage of the Portland Sea Dogs and Red Sox Organization

Wednesday in PA

The Sea Dogs can clinch a series victory with a win tonight against the SeaWolves. Portland has not won a series in Erie since they swept a 3-game set in 2005. Last night was a great victory for the team, they scored the game-winning run with two outs, and Bryce Cox escaped trouble in the ninth inning to notch his seventh save of the season.

Quick thoughts from Strasburg’s game: I was talking a lot about this on the air, and had my eyes pasted to the computer to watch his start. I can’t remember a player making their Major League debut, getting this much hype. I think this is great. There’s been so much negativity the past few years in baseball with the steriod issue, and the constant rise in salaries. We’re now seeing a change in the game, due to the high salaries. Teams are spending more money in player development, enabling younger guys to get to the big leagues, and make a quick impact.

Strasburg is awesome, and you don’t need to look at a stat sheet to know that. Just watch how he pitches. His fastball is almost a 100 mph, but the more impressive part, is the movement he has with the pitch, but still commands it. I couldn’t believe his curveball and secondary pitches. It is very hard to project players as an amateur but this guy is probably the first “can’t miss’ ever.

Notes from today’s media packet:

NUMBER ONE IS A SUCCESS: In their first game against the Western Division, the
Sea Dogs defeated the Erie SeaWolves 4-3 on Tuesday night…With a victory
tonight, the ‘Dogs will clinch their first series win at Erie since sweeping
the SeaWolves back in 2005…C Luis
Exposito snapped a 3-3 tie when he was hit-by-a-pitch with the bases loaded
in the ninth inning…Exposito finished with 3 RBI, nailing a 2-run double in the
third inning…RHP Santo Luis hurled
two scoreless innings to notch the win.

SAVING THE DAY:RHP Bryce Cox earned his team-leading
seventh save of the season, working a scoreless ninth…Erie had runners at first
and second with one out, but Cox fanned LF Andy
Dirks and RF Josh Burrus to end
the game…RHP Stephen Fife took a
no-decision, yielding three runs over six innings pitched…Fife leads the team
with four quality starts.

CONTINUES TO LEAD THE WAY: Exposito is the club leader in RBI (43), but his
total is tied with New Hampshire’s Eric
Thames for second in the Eastern League…Brandon Laird of Trenton is the E.L. leader with 52…Exposito and 3BRay Chang each have 16 doubles, tied
for third in the league.

HE’S BEEN THE MAN: OF/INF Ryan
Khoury extended his hitting streak to seven straight games with a single in
the ninth inning…Khoury is hitting .379 (11-for-29) during the streak and has
reached base safely in all eight games since joining Portland on June 1 from
Triple-A Pawtucket…Last night was Khoury’s 200th game with the Sea
Dogs.

TWO FOR TUESDAY:Chang, LF Chih-Hsien
Chiang and OF Matt Sheely all
had two hits on Tuesday night…Sheely has four multi-hit games this season,
three against the Reading Phillies…Changhas hit safely in 14 of 16 games, going 22-for-59
(.373), and has hit safely in 37 of 47 games overall…Chiang is hitting .346
(9-for-26) in June with a homer and 2 RBI.

KEEPS
PITCHING GREAT:Luisis now 3-0, 1.69 ERA (3 ER/16 IP) over
his last seven appearances with 16 strikeouts…The right-hander had yielded 11
runs in 14 games with the Sea Dogs, but four came on May 10 vs. Binghamton and
three on May 2 against the New Britain Rock Cats…Portland’s relievers have
earned a win in 19 of the 30 victories this season and have going 15 of 25 in
save chances.

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